Centralized Windows 2000 Event Logging: A Step-by-Step Guide

So much takes place on corporate networks these days that Administrators and IT staff are often completely un-aware of. I know that on my network there was a lot taking place that was contrary to company policy, and that opened up security vulnerabilities. There were even problems that I was un-aware of because the end users did not want to file Help Desk tickets. I think the key to having a smooth running, secure network, is awareness. If the IT team is aware of the goings on of the network they can deal with small issues when they arise instead of waiting for the problem is grow out of control and cause system failures. One way to raise the awareness is with the built-in Event Logging in Windows 2000. While the Event Viewer has it's benefits it also has one major downfall: Each computer holds it's own logs and there is no built-in way to centralize the logging. The purpose of this paper is to show you how to setup a centralized logging system for your Windows 2000 Corporate Network.